Roland news: Ladytron Talk About Their Gear

Since 2001, Ladytron has been on the forefront of the new, electronic rock movement beginning with their first release, “604.” Some called it Electroclash, but Ladytron, since their earliest days, have never been easy to categorize.

Ladytron (from left): Danny, Helen, Reuben and Mira

2008 has been Ladytron's most successful year so far, and since the release of their new album 'Velocifero' they are playing to increasingly bigger audiences, with gigs at large venues and international festivals both in the UK and in the rest of the world. Though recently chosen by Gibson as one of the best bands from Liverpool, truth is that Ladytron are truly international: with two members from Liverpool, one from Glasgow and one from Bulgaria, they belong to the world.

The band has an effortless way of combining old school technology within a 21st Century context — and always with strong songwriting. Known for their high-energy live shows, the band is able to translate the same excitement and mood of their studio productions to the stage.

Ladytron relies on a mixture of different Roland synthesizer technologies, from some of the earliest vintage pieces to the latest workstations. Roland Product Specialist Dan Krisher met up with the band in New York during their tour for their latest release, “Velocifero.” Present were Mira Aroyo (keyboards and vocals), Danny Hunt (keyboards, guitar and vocals), Helen Marnie (keyboards and vocals) and Reuben Wu (keyboards and vocals).

In this interview for Roland, the band discuss their new CD, their songwriting process and how Roland gear fits into their enigmatic and compelling sound.

Dan From Roland: We’re here in New York, just before you go on stage. So what would be your ultimate live show, if you had unlimited time money and resources?

Reuben: The North Pole. We could fly everyone out.

Danny: Soulwax told us about this urban myth about the black Amex card. Apparently one of its default functions is to be able to hire a jumbo jet and fly your friends all over the world anytime.

Helen: And ideally no sound check!

Mira: And lots of pyrotechnics. Lots of lions jumping through hoops over us while we were playing.

Dan From Roland: I didn’t expect so much “Vegas” from Ladytron.

Helen: No, not so much Vegas..

Dan From Roland: What would the lights be?

Danny: Well, we really like the lights we have now.

Mira: Maybe more of them.

Reuben: Like maybe a million of them.

Dan From Roland: The band has a new release out. What’s the concept behind it?

Danny: It’s a long playing format with thirteen songs, called “Velocifero.”

Helen: But we all don’t say it like that.

Reuben: I say, “Velo-KI-fero.”

Helen: I say, “Velo-SO-fero.”

Danny: And it’s out now, and it’s been going well. We’re touring it at the moment. This is the first time we’ve really toured before an album came out. We’re playing seven songs off it.

Danny and his Roland keyboards

Dan From Roland: Last time we spoke, you described your process. You recorded this quickly, in December I believe. Was the process the same or different this time?

Danny: Similar process, but with little pockets of development.

Mira: It’s just that we really don’t have a process. So it’s easy to say it’s a similar process, because we don’t have a set process. So it was the same lack of process.

Dan From Roland: That’s probably one of the elements that keeps things moving forward and staying fresh all the time.

Reuben: Yes. This was thirteen happy accidents.

Dan From Roland: How did your Roland gear play into the new recording?

Danny: It’s amazing — if you’ve got a static instrument, the Space Echo gives it all this life and chaos to play with. Especially by pressing and holding the right hand pedal, which was this trick we learned about from the ‘net. That wasn’t in the manual.

Reuben: It’s made out of metal and has the same look as the original one, the same color scheme. It’s just authentic.

Danny: We’ve got that [RE-20] going through a couple of the keyboards and guitar as well.

Helen: Danny just goes off into his own world. He forgets what he’s doing, and all we’ve got in our in-ear monitors is all this echo.

Danny: You know what happens is that we’re both using our own at the same time! You look at me thinking it’s me, and then I look at Reuben and he’s got his foot on his using it too.

Reuben: [to Danny] Sometimes you play with the intensity knob. You are playing, then hit intensity and get this massive feedback from the keyboards — it’s great.

Mira, using FX pedals with her Korg synth

Dan From Roland: What happens after the North American tour ends?

Mira: More touring!

Danny: We’ll probably be out until next Summer.

Mira: Lots more big festivals.

Helen: We do a couple of support slots for Interpol, then all the big European festivals. Then we go to Australia. Then back to the UK and Europe.

Reuben: We could actually tour for years and years until we decide to put a new album out.

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